Control system for hydraulically actuated valves and the like



Jan. 1%, 1950 Filed July 6, 1946 J. W. LINCOLN CO 0 YSTEM FOR HYDRAUALLY D VALVES AND THE KE 2 Sheets-Sheet l Jan. 10, 1950 J. w. LINCOLN2,494,183

CONTROL SYSTEM FOR HYDRAULICALLY ACTUATED VALVES AND THE LIKE Filed July6, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 51 1964 /s/-- 1474 we Patented Jan. 10, 1950GONTROL SYSTEM FOR HYDRAULIGALLY ACTUATED VALVES AND THE LIKE John W.Lincoln, Stonington, Conn.

Application July 6, 1946. Serial No. 681 749 6 Claims. (01. 121-149) Myinvention relates to control systems for engines and particularly to avariable cut-off for controlling the lift and. timing of valves.

An object of my invention is to provide a h draul-ic or fluid valvelifter particularly adapted for use in steam engines.

An additional object of my invention is to provide a fluid operatedvalve lifter and control means whereby infinite adjustment betweenmaximum lift and zero lift is obtainable.

A further object of my invention is to provide an automatic valve andcut-oil control mechanism for steam engines.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a combined manualand automatic control device for regulating the degree of valve lift ina steam engine in accordance with load requirements of the engine.

Further objects will be apparent from the specification and drawings, inwhich:

Fig. l is a sectional view of a hydraulic valve lifter constructed inaccordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional side view of a modified form of valve lift centralstructure;

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic sectional view showing the operation of agovernor and valve lifting mechanism as applied to the form shown inFig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the control sleeve employed inFigs. 1 and 3.

While certain novel features of the invention are disclosed herein withconsiderable detail with respect to certain particular forms of theinvention, it is not desired to be limited to such details since manychanges and modifications may well he made without departure from thespirit of the invention in its broadest aspect.

For the sake of clarity, I have chosen to illustrate my valve structureas divorced from any particular type of engine since it will :beunderstood that my control system may :be used to adbelow maximumdisplacement of push rod 9, bore 20 narrows to provide a seat for ballcheck 22. Push rod I9 is drilled at 23 and at 24 to provide exteriorcommunication with bore 20 on either side of ball check 22. Push rod I9is urged downwardly in Fig. 1 by spring 25 and retainer 26 which abutscam follower l8 and is enclosed by annular bushing 21 which serves as aguide for the push rod and also regulates the relative have of valvestem 2| and push rod I 9 in a manner to be more fully explainedhereinafter.

vantage with any type of poppet valve or machine element in which onemember is intermittently activated by another member at varying degreesof displacement.

Valve I0 is shown seated in cylinder block ll (Fig. l) and has a face I2adapted to close valve port l3. Valve I0 is normally urged into closedposition by spring l4 and keeper l5 as in conventional practice. Alsoillustrated in accordance with conventional practice is cam shaft l6,cani I1, and cam follower I 8, which is the lower portion of push rod 19. Push rod l9 has an interior bore 20 in which valve stem 2| slides. Ata point Bushing 21 is adapted to turn in housing 28 and for this purposehas an extension or lever 29 formed. integrally with it. Housing 28contains two annular recesses 30 and 3| which register with ports 32 and33 respectively in bushing 27. Fluid ingress and egress to recess 30 and3| is provided by tapped holes 34 and 35. y,

Push rod is is prevented from turning with respect to bushing 21 bymeans of lug 26 which is free to move up and down between guides 36. Upand down movement of bushing 21', however; is prevented by arm 31attached to housing '28.

Particular attention is directed to the shape of port 32 (Fig. 4). Thisport tapers longitudinally of the axis of bushing 21 so that as thebushing is rotated with respect to housing 28, the size of the apertureof port 32 registering with orifice 23 can be increased from zero to apredetermined maximum. Further rotation of bushing 21 eliminates allregistering thereby closing orifice 24 insofar as fluid communicationbetween bore 20 and chamber 3| is concerned, regardless of thepositionof cam I! and rod [9.

Referring now to Fig. a modified structure in which the fluid reliefdevice does not enclose the =pushrod is shown. The steam chest of anengine is denoted by H and has dual valve ports l3. Valve I'll issimilarly urged to closed position by means of spring l4 and retainer15'. Valve stem 2| is enlarged and centrally bored at 38. Push rod l9"slidably enters bore 38 of valve stem 2|" and terminates in cam followerl8" which is urged against cam H by spring 25 and collar 26'. Rod 1 9 isalso centrally bored to provide .afluid passage of chamber and containsa ball check 22' which permits ingress of fluid at port 24 but whichprevents egress through this port. Port 23' located above check 22provides egress for fluid entrapped in the bore and in the hollow'stem2| At some point during the travel of rod 19, bore 23' will register"with port 39 in housing 28'. Also enclosed in housing 28' is controlvalve 40 ceritrally bored at 4] and having a V-slot 42 generally similarto port 32 previously described in conbushing 21 in accordance with thedesired speed of the engine and may be of any standard centrifugal orhydraulic type well known to the art. I

Governor 44 may be controlled manually by means of lever 45 and rod 46.

Hole 34 is connected to valve 41 by means of conduit 48. Valve 41 isalso connected to fluid supply reservoir 49 by means of conduit 50. Y.

Hole 35 is similarly connected to valve 5| by conduit 52, and to fluidpump 53 by means of conduit 54. Relief valve 55 is desirably placedbetween valve 5| and pump 53. Pump 53 draws fluid from supply tank 49through conduit 55.

Operation My control system provides periodical actuation of push rod I9by means of cam I1. This motion in turn compresses fluid in bore aboveball check 22 which in turn raises valve l0. When port 23 registers withport 32 in sleeve 21, fluid flows into, annular passage 30 permittingvalve l0 to drop thereby closing valve port I3. It will beapparent thatthe rate at'which fluid is released from bore 20 will depend upon thesetting of sleeve 21 since port 32 is tapered as described above. Asengine speed increases, port 32 will be turned to provide greaterregistering with port 23. This causes valve ID to seat after the top ofitsstroke. Should engine speed be faster than is required after maximumopening of port 32 with respect to orifice 23, further rotation ofbushing 27 prevents. any registering of the port 24 with orifice 33thereby causing vacuum in bore 20 above ball check 22, since no fluid isadmitted to bore 23, either through port 33 or through port 32, afterthe latter has passed out of register with port 22 on the down stroke ofpush rod IS. The valve I ll being restrained by its seat from furtherdownward travel, vacuum is created in bore 20 by the continued downwardtravel of push rod l9 under urging of spring 25. The size of port 33 andits position in sleeve 2'! with respect to port 24 are such that port 33registers with port 24 at all times except under the conditions justdescribed. When bushing 21 is thus turned, as described above, a stop onbody 28 prevents further motion of arm 29 and bushing 21, so that port32 remains open to communication with port '23 at the top of eachstroke, serving torelease any air or fluid that may have leaked intobore 25. Since no more fluid is permitted ingress through port 24, therewill be no fluid compression to raise valve ||l against pressure ofspring l4 and the engine will Where the engine has been inoperative forsome time, fluid in bore of valves which have remained in the raised oropen position may escape due to wear or to the vacuum describedpreviously. As a result, it may be that no valves will open to admitsteam for starting the engine. Under these conditions, piston valve 41may be actuated either manually or in combination with governor 44 tocompress fluid trapped therein and'force it through conduit 48' intobore 20 through passage 30. After one revolution of the engine, valve |0will be primed automatically and piston valve 41 returns to aninoperative position.

coast until lever29 is rotated either by governor 44 or handle 45 tocause ports 33 and 24 to register with each other.

When lever 29 is rotated in the opposite direction so that the smallestregistering of port 32 with port 23 has been'exceeded, egress of fluidfrom bore 23 through ports 32 and 23 will be completely prevented but inthis position ports 33 and 24 continue to register. Therefore, push rodHand valve l5 operate as a hydraulically coupled unit without relativemovement because of the entrapped fluidin'bore 23 above check 22.

A similar piston valve 5| is employed to open a plurality of enginevalves I0 simultaneously regardless of the position of cam It will beapparent that piston valve 41 will raise valve l0 only if cam I! is atanadmission angle causing ports 23 and 32 to register with each other.In warming up an engine, it may be desirable to open all'valves at thesame time or under some circumstances a steam engine can be employed asan effective brake for the vehicle in which it may be installed.Therefore, I have provided means for raising all the valves at once.

' When valve 5| is actuated either by governor 44 or independently,fluid is forced through conduit 52, passage 3|, ports 33 and 24 pastball check 22 into bore 20. This in turn raises valve stem 2i in pushrod E9 to open valve port l3. It is contemplated that in actualpractice, it will be desirable to provide suitable mechanical interlocksfor piston valves 41, 5| and governor 44 to lift any combination ofvalves and to prevent damage to the engine. Pump 53 supplies fluid underpressure to recess 3| through conduits 54 and 52. It will be apparentthat when piston valve 5| is in the position illustrated in Fig. 3, norestriction to the passage of fluid occurs.

Theoperation of the structure of Fig. 2 is substantially the same asthat of Figs. 1 and 3 except that the fluid cycle is self-contained inhousing 28', it, therefore, being unnecessary to provide independentfluid pumping devices since released fluid returns through bore 4| toreservoir 43 which is at all times above opening 24'. Raising andlowering of cam follower 8' acts to pump fluid upwards past check 22'into chamber 38 from which it will be released as port 23 registers withport 39 and in accordance with the registering of slot 42- with port 39.It will be understood that the form of Fig; 2 does not contemplate thenecessity of raising valve I5 except by means of cam It will beunderstood that the variations in the structures of Figs. 1 and 3 havebeen made for the purposes of clarity, it being immaterial whether ports34, and lever 29 are in vertical alignment or not.

I have thus described a mechanism for controll'ably actuating a valve orother similar machine element which when applied to a steam en ginegreatly simplifies the control of the engine and impro'ves' steameconomy because the cut-off can be regulated without the necessity ofmanual controlan'd'it supplies optimum valve setting for anydesiredspeed or load over the entire engine range. 1 j

Throttling at the valve seats is reduced to a minimum bya combinedspring action and steam pressure on the valve itself, and by thecomplete opening of the valve, under any condition of cutoif, exceptwhen over-speeding renders the valve action inoperative. This importantfeature of my design is achieved by properly locating port 32 withrespect to the high and low points of cam I! so that valve Ill will belifted a distance corresponding to nearly maximum cam displacementbefore ports 23 and. 32 register at all. Furthermore, my construction isadmirably adapted to both intake and exhaust valves and considerablysimplifies the problem of reversing. Very accurate valve timing ispossible because any change in setting due to a change in viscosity ofthe hydraulic fluid will be automatically compensated in the governor.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A valve lifter assembly comprising a valve guide housing havin upperand lower annular recesses, a bushing rotatably mounted in the housing,means for rotating the bushing in the housing, a hollow push rod adaptedto move slidably in the bushing, guide means for preventing rotation ofthe push rod, a valve stem extending into the hollow push rod, springmeans urging the valve stem into the push rod, spring means urging thepush rod away from the valve stem and into cooperation with a cam, acheck valve in the hollow portion of the push rod, a relativelynon-compressible fluid in the hollow push rod for transmitting thrustfrom the push rod to the valve stem, and control ports in the push rodand in the bushing for selectively permitting fluid ingress and egressto the hollow push rod.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which the fluid egress port in thebushing is tapered to provide a variable orifice for fluid egress.

3. A valve lifter assembly comprising a valve guide housing having upperand lower annular recesses, a bushing rotatably mounted in the housing,means for rotating the bushing in the housing, a hollow push rod adaptedto move slidably in the bushing, guide means for preventing rotation ofthe push rod, a valve stem extending into the hollow push rod, springmeans urging th valve stem into the push rod, spring means urging thepush rod away from the valve stem and into cooperation with a cam, acheck valve in the hollow portion of the push rod, a relativelynon-compressible fluid in the hollow push rod for transmitting thrustfrom the push rod to the valve stem, control ports in the push rod andin the bushing for selectively permitting fluid ingress and egress tothe hollow push rod, and a starting valve for forcing fluid into theupper annular recess through the egress ports in the push rod andbushing to move the valve stem independently of the push rod.

4. A valve lifter assembly comprising a valve guide housing having upperand lower annular recesses, a bushing rotatably mounted in the housing,means for rotating the bushing in the housing, a hollow push rod adaptedto move slidably in the bushing, guide means for preventing rotation ofthe push rod, a valve stem extending into the hollow push rod, springmeans urging the valve stem into the push rod, spring means urging thepush rod away from the valve stem and into cooperation with a cam, acheck valve in the hollow portion of the push rod, a relativelynon-compressible fluid in the hollow push rod fof transmitting thrustfrom the push rod to the valve stem, control ports in the push rod andin the bushing for selectively permitting ingress and egress of fluid tothe hollow push rod, and a starting valve for forcing fluid into thelower annular recess to force fluid through the ingress ports in thebushing and push rod and past the check valve in the push rod to movethe valve stem independently of the push rod.

5. A valve lifter assembly comprising a valve guide housing having upperand lower annular recesses, a bushing rotatably mounted in the housing,means for rotating the bushing in the housing, a hollow push rod adaptedto move slidably in the bushing, guide means for preventing rotation ofthe push rod, a valve stem extending into the hollow push rod, springmeans urging the valve stem into the push rod, spring means urging thepush rod away from the valve stem and into cooperation with a cam, acheck valve in the hollow portion of the push rod, a relativelynon-compressible fluid in the hollow push rod for transmitting thrustfrom the push rod to the valve stem, control ports in the push rod andin the bushing for selectively permitting fluid ingress and egress tothe hollow push rod, a starting valve for forcing fluid into the upperannular recess through the egress ports in the push rod and bushing, anda starting valve for forcing fluid into the lower annular recess toforce fluid through the ingress ports in the bushing and push rod andpast the check valve in the push rod to move the valve stemindependently of the push rod.

6. A valve lifter assembly comprising a valve guide housing having upperand lower annular recesses, a bushing rotatably mounted in the housing,means for rotating the bushing in the housing, a hollow push rod adaptedto move slidably in the bushing, guide means for preventing rotation ofthe push rod, a valve stem extending into the hollow push rod, springmeans urging the valve stem into the push rod, spring means urging thepush rod away from the valve stem and into cooperation with a cam, acheck valve in the hollow portion of the push rod, a relativelynon-compressible fluid in the hollow push rod for transmitting thrustfrom the push rod to the valve stem, control ports in the push rod andin the bushing for selectively permitting ingress and egress to thehollow push rod, a first starting valve for forcing fluid into the upperannular recess through the egress ports in the push rod and bushing, asecond starting valve for forcing fluid into the lower annular recess toforce fluid through the ingress ports in the bushing and push rod andpast the check valve in the push rod to move the valve stemindependently of the push rod, a fluid reservoir, a fluid pump fordelivering fluid from the reservoir to the lower annular recess, and arelief valve between the fluid pump and the recess.

JOHN W. LINCOLN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the flle ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 211,142 Fleutelot Jan. 7, 18791,080,733 Thomson Dec. 9, 1913 1,131,480 David Mar. 9, 1915 1,132,095Hutchison Mar. 16, 1915 2,113,936 Fickett et al Apr. 12, 1938 2,424,328Pars July 22, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 261,029 GermanyJune 13, 1913

